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Finch   Listen
noun
Finch  n.  (pl. finches)  (Zool.) A small singing bird of many genera and species, belonging to the family Fringillidae. Note: The word is often used in composition, as in chaffinch, goldfinch, grassfinch, pinefinch, etc.
Bramble finch. See Brambling.
Canary finch, the canary bird.
Copper finch. See Chaffinch.
Diamond finch. See under Diamond.
Finch falcon (Zool.), one of several very small East Indian falcons of the genus Hierax.
To pull a finch, to swindle an ignorant or unsuspecting person. (Obs.) "Privily a finch eke could he pull."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Finch" Quotes from Famous Books



... borne to us on the crest of the cold waves from the frozen zone, and that is repeated on a smaller scale in a permanent resident, is the pine grosbeak; his alter ego, reduced in size, is the purple finch, which abounds in the higher latitudes of the temperate zone. The color and form of the two birds are again essentially the same. The females and young males of both species are of a grayish brown like the sparrow, while in the old males this tint ...
— Locusts and Wild Honey • John Burroughs

... boast More years and wisdom than the most, Entreated, opening wide his beak, A moment's liberty to speak; And, silence publicly enjoin'd; Deliver'd briefly thus his mind: 'My friends! be cautious how ye treat The subject upon which we meet; I fear we shall have winter yet.' A finch, whose tongue knew no control, With golden wing and satin poll, A last year's bird, who ne'er had tried What pairing means, thus pert replied: 'Methinks the gentleman,' quoth she, 'Opposite, in the apple-tree, By his good will would keep us single Till yonder heaven and earth ...
— The Children's Garland from the Best Poets • Various

... junction with the Gwydir showed that the Karaula was but the upper flow of Sturt's Darling. Much disappointed, for Mitchell was intent upon the discovery of a new river system having a northerly outflow, he prepared to make a bold push into the interior. Before he started, Finch, his assistant-surveyor arrived hurriedly on the scene with a tale of death. Finch had been bringing up supplies, and during his temporary absence his camp had been attacked by the natives, the cattle dispersed, the supplies carried off, and two of the teamsters murdered. All ideas of ...
— The Explorers of Australia and their Life-work • Ernest Favenc

... Vesper-bird are the pastures and the hay-fields; hence the name of Grass-Finch, by which he is usually distinguished. His voice is heard frequently by the rustic roadsides, where he picks up a considerable portion of his subsistence. This is the little bird that so generally serenades us during our evening walks, ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 2, Issue 12, October, 1858 • Various

... sought by Englishmen abroad. The study of medicine, particularly, took many students to Padua or Paris, for the Continent was far ahead of England in scientific work.[297] Sir Thomas Browne's son studied anatomy at Padua with Sir John Finch, who had settled there and was afterwards chosen syndic of the university.[298] At Paris Martin Lister, though in the train of the English Ambassador, principally enjoyed "Mr Bennis in the dissecting-room working by himself upon ...
— English Travellers of the Renaissance • Clare Howard

... Hamilton worked for two years amongst a rich fauna and a scanty but interesting flora. Amongst other discoveries a finch indigenous ...
— The Home of the Blizzard • Douglas Mawson

... wife," he said cheerily. "We have had hotter work than we expected; but, so far as I am concerned, there is no great harm done. I am sorry to say that we have lost Long Hal, and Rob Finch, and Smedley. Two or three others are sorely wounded, and I fancy few ...
— Both Sides the Border - A Tale of Hotspur and Glendower • G. A. Henty

... the Goldfinch," shows Mary seated with the Child Jesus at her knee and the young John presenting him with a finch, which he caresses gently. The Madonna has the drooping eyes, the exquisitely rounded face that always charm us, and the boys are real live children ready for a frolic. Another, called "The Madonna of the Meadow," represents the Virgin in the foreground of a gently broken landscape ...
— Great Artists, Vol 1. - Raphael, Rubens, Murillo, and Durer • Jennie Ellis Keysor

... what is best to be done with William Rayner," he added, turning to the first lieutenant. "If you wish to learn to read and write, you can come and get instruction every day from my clerk, Mr Finch. I will give him directions to teach you; but remember you are ...
— From Powder Monkey to Admiral - A Story of Naval Adventure • W.H.G. Kingston

... Overhead a finch piped. Below her, hidden by a screen of hazel, chattered the fall. Why should she wend farther? She must be greedy of solitude indeed if this sylvan corner did ...
— The Mayor of Troy • Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

... meeting of the Society for Ethical Research, Mrs. Meyer read an essay on "What Parsifal Has Taught Me," during the reading of which Mrs. Alvord described Miss Waldron's trousseau to Miss Finch and Doctor Julia Brown. Because of the conversation among these three, the president asked Doctor Brown, first of all, to discuss the paper. And Doctor Julia, who talked bass and had coquettish fluffy blond bangs and a greatly overtaxed corsage, ...
— Double Trouble - Or, Every Hero His Own Villain • Herbert Quick

... new world of interest had been disclosed to her; she felt as if she was constantly on the eve of some new discovery; the next turn in the path might reveal to her a new warbler or a new vireo. I remember the thrill she seemed to experience when I called her attention to a purple finch singing in the tree-tops in front of her house, a rare visitant she had not before heard. The thrill would of course have been greater had she identified the bird without my aid. One would rather bag one's own game, whether it be with a ...
— Bird Neighbors • Neltje Blanchan

... think we shall," said Dr. Carr, with a smile, which ended in a sigh; "but we shall do very well, Katy; never fear. Miss Finch ...
— What Katy Did At School • Susan Coolidge

... want to hear a real thrilling adventure, Miss Finch, you should get Mr. Musard to tell you how he came by that ruby he is wearing," said Phil Heredith, ...
— The Hand in the Dark • Arthur J. Rees

... birds cease to sing, but sitting thus partially hidden and quiet, if there were any about something would be heard of them. There would be a rustling, a thrush would fly across the lane, a blackbird would appear by the gateway yonder in the shadow which he loves, a finch would settle in the oaks. None of these incidents occur; none of the lesser signs of life in the foliage, the tremulous spray, the tap of a bill cleaned by striking first one side and then the other against a bough, the rustle of ...
— Nature Near London • Richard Jefferies

... Bot. (Sings.) The finch, the sparrow, and the lark, The plain-song cuckow grey, Whose note full many a man doth mark, ...
— A Fairy Tale in Two Acts Taken from Shakespeare (1763) • William Shakespeare

... they reached the beginning of the lands of Connorloa, they crossed the grounds of a Mr. Finch, who had a pretty house and large orange orchards. Mr. Finch had one son, Harry, about Jusy's age, and the two boys ...
— The Hunter Cats of Connorloa • Helen Jackson

... tree in the midst of the long grass, the luxury of the leaves, and the song in the very air. I seem as if I could feel all the glowing life the sunshine gives and the south wind calls to being. The endless grass, the endless leaves, the immense strength of the oak expanding, the unalloyed joy of finch and blackbird; from all of them I receive a little. Each gives me something of the pure joy they gather for themselves. In the blackbird's melody one note is mine; in the dance of the leaf shadows the ...
— The Life of the Fields • Richard Jefferies

... chaffinch utters his bold challenge on the tree; the notes are so rapid that they seem to come all at once. Welcome, indeed, is the song of the first finch. Sparrows are busy in the garden—the hens are by far the most numerous now, half a dozen together perch on the bushes. One suddenly darts forth and seizes a black insect as it flies in the sunshine. The bee, too, is abroad, ...
— Hodge and His Masters • Richard Jefferies

... maturity by artificial means was at its height, and shared the general infatuation, and, in consequence, very frequently destroyed all the stamina of his instruments. Subsequently he became a partner of George Purdy, and carried on a joint business at Finch Lane, in the City of London, from whence most of his best instruments date. Purdy and Fendt had also a shop in the West End about 1843. He was a most assiduous worker. The number of Violins, Tenors, Violoncellos, and Double-Basses that he made was very great; indeed, his reputation would ...
— The Violin - Its Famous Makers and Their Imitators • George Hart

... hear? I am captain of the Golden Band," he said proudly and haughtily, scrutinizing the company with his confident gaze. "And you haven't yet got as far as the Golden Band, because you are cowards! Chuproff," he cried to one of his men, "go and take the mask off Finch, or the poor boy will suffocate, and untie his arms—and give him a good crack on the head to teach him to ...
— The Continental Classics, Volume XVIII., Mystery Tales • Various

... mark for many eyes; people came running from all sides, the air hummed with voices; shouts were heard, mingled with laughter and jeers, but we rode on, and through it all at a gallop. As we passed "The Chequers" I saw the windows full of faces, and Truscott and Finch with five or six others came running out to stare after us open mouthed. So we galloped through Tonbridge Town, and never drew rein until we were out upon the open road once more. There the fellow ...
— The Honourable Mr. Tawnish • Jeffery Farnol

... face of a friend who holds forth a hand at parting. The wide vaults of the woods are finely bedecked with red and yellow splendor, and albeit the voices of birds are few, albeit the cry of the jay, and the song of the nightingale, and the pipe of the bull-finch must be mute, the greenwood is not more dumb than in the Spring; the hunter's horn rings through the trees and away far over their tops, with the baying of the hounds, the clapping of the drivers, and the huntsmen shouting the view halloo. Every bright, ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers

... shock the cart sometimes by my boldness with the fair, so that it raises scandalised shafts in horror to the sky!—Hang care!—A barleycorn—Eat and be merry.—The gear upon my head and under my eye is a far more gorgeous red, when I puff out my chest and strut, than any robin's waistcoat or finch's tie.—A fine day. All is well. I curvet—I blow my horn. Conscious of having done my duty, I may quite properly assume the swagger of a musketeer, and the calm commanding bearing of a ...
— Chantecler - Play in Four Acts • Edmond Rostand

... the facetious as well as the ferocious aspect of the Star Chamber. Again Prynne stands before his judges, a full court (and theoretically the Star Chamber was co-extensive with the House of Lords), but this time in company with Bastwick, the physician, and Burton, the divine. Sir J. Finch, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, says: "I had thought Mr. Prynne had had no ears, but methinks he hath ears." Thereupon many Lords look more closely at him, and the usher of the court is ordered to turn up his hair and show his ears. Their Lordships ...
— Books Condemned to be Burnt • James Anson Farrer

... to call in the sunrise and the sunset, the rainbow and the autumn woods and the wild flowers, and the woodpecker and the purple finch and the squirrel and the jay and the butterfly, the November traveler and the truant boy, to ...
— History of American Literature • Reuben Post Halleck

... rapid at other times, yet in the spring hang about on the wing in a toying and playful manner; thus the cock-snipe, while breeding, forgetting his former flight, fans the air like the wind- hover; and the green-finch in particular exhibits such languishing and faltering gestures as to appear like a wounded and dying bird; the king-fisher darts along like an arrow; fern-owls, or goat- suckers, glance in the dusk over the tops of trees ...
— The Natural History of Selborne • Gilbert White

... black- a-mouths!' I screeched. 'Irish stew for the rebel brigade!' 'Hullo, Black Cock!' he cried, and I saw him grinning through the dust. 'I'm going to cut your comb.' And he took the old horse by head, and rammed him at us—slap-bang, like riding at a bull-finch; and the whole blanky ...
— The Gentleman - A Romance of the Sea • Alfred Ollivant

... it the way I'd be leavin' you marry some good-for-nothing idle jackeen, who couldn't buy a ha'porth of bird seed for a linnet or a finch, let alone to keep a wife? That's what a contrary, headstrong, uncontrollable whipster like you would do, if you had your own way. But, be God, you will have little of your own way while I am ...
— Duty, and other Irish Comedies • Seumas O'Brien

... finch still dreamed its heavy dream and the mice were still motionless balls, Hazel was awakened by a knock at the massive oak door. She ran across and opened it a crack, peering out from amid her hair like a squirrel from ...
— Gone to Earth • Mary Webb

... o'er him raised, Exclaimed, "escape now, if you can, You're in the clutches of a man!" Dinny had a commanding eye, His hat was eighteen inches high Come next to view, Denis O'Neill, A ship carpenter, who laid the keel Of many a vessel in his day, And still he clinks and caulks away. James Finch, too, who died here of late, Was one of those of '28, Or '27 it may be, Comes nearer to the certainty; James Finch sledged stoutly with a will, In the old forge on "Major's Hill," In '29, he once lay still For fifteen minutes on the ground ...
— Recollections of Bytown and Its Old Inhabitants • William Pittman Lett

... speaking of her," he had the grace to say, "but I couldn't help slipping to the window often yesterday to look for Jenny, and when she did come and I saw she was crying, it—it a sort of confused me, and I didn't know right, sir, what I was doing. I hit against a member, Mr. Myddleton Finch, and he—he jumped and swore at me. Well, sir, I had just touched him after all, and I was so miserable, it a kind of stung me to be treated like—like that, and me a man as well as him, and I lost my ...
— Short Stories of Various Types • Various

... the owl entered into these places abounding in flowers, and not a single redbreast and not a single gold-finch and not a single linnet was frightened by them. The birds of prey sat on their perches with an arrogant and sad air, and kept their eyes fixed on the sun; now and then they beat their steely wings ...
— Romance of the Rabbit • Francis Jammes

... individuals of the common Hair-Bird (Fringilla socialis) may frequently be seen. The majority of this species migrate to a more open clime; but sufficient numbers remain to entitle them to be included with other Snow-Birds of the Finch tribe. He is one of the smallest of the Sparrows, of a brownish ash color above, and grayish white beneath. He wears a little cap or turban of brown velvet on his head, and by this mark he is readily distinguished from his ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 3, Issue 17, March, 1859 • Various

... Finch keeps a hats-cleaned-by-electricity-while-you-wait establishment, nine feet by twelve, in Third Avenue. Once a customer, you are always his. I do not know his secret process, but every four days your hat needs to be ...
— Options • O. Henry

... safety. Ptarmigans run in troops amongst the bushes; little Snipes are busy along the brooks and in the morasses; the social Crows seek the neighbourhood of new habitations; and when the sun shines in spring, one may even sometimes hear the cheerful note of the Finch, and in autumn that of the Thrush.' Throughout this region of woods, a hardy, middle-sized breed of horses lives under the mastership and care of man, and is eminently adapted to bear the severity of the climate.... The only limit to their northern ...
— The Ancient Life History of the Earth • Henry Alleyne Nicholson

... ever intends to enter the holy estate of matrimony," returned Mr. Carlyon. "He is an old bachelor by choice, and in my humble opinion is likely to remain so; and then his worthy housekeeper, Mrs. Finch, makes ...
— Herb of Grace • Rosa Nouchette Carey

... of the nests of small birds and hens, and though it eats some grasshoppers and a very few weed seeds, it is thoroughly disliked by western fruit growers. It should be greatly reduced in numbers. Another California bird that has gained a bad reputation is the house finch or linnet. It does serious harm in the cherry and apricot orchards, not so much by eating as by pecking at the fruit. It probably pecks, and thus destroys, five times as much fruit as it eats. As the bird is very abundant, ...
— Checking the Waste - A Study in Conservation • Mary Huston Gregory

... Milly had designed to "lie down"; but at the end of three minutes more she was not lying down, she was saying instead, abruptly, with a transition that was like a jump of four thousand miles: "What was it that, in New York, on the ninth, when you saw him alone, Dr. Finch said ...
— The Wings of the Dove, Volume 1 of 2 • Henry James

... an experiment making in ramie and jute, Mr. Finch, formerly of Haywards, having already planted twenty-six acres of ramie, and intending to put seven acres into jute, for which he had the plants all ready, raised in a canvas-covered inclosure. He raised ramie successfully last year, ...
— Northern California, Oregon, and the Sandwich Islands • Charles Nordhoff

... this extreme liveliness of the jay which makes it more distressing to the mind to see it pent in a cage than other birds of its family, such as the magpie; just as it is more distressing to see a skylark than a finch in prison, because the lark has an irresistible impulse to rise when his singing fit is on. Sing he must, in or out of prison, yet there can be little joy in the performance when the bird is incessantly teased with ...
— Birds in Town and Village • W. H. Hudson

... and other Berris when they be ripe, will draw all the Black-birds, Thrushes, and Maw Pies to your Orchard. The Bul-finch is a deuourer of your Fruit in the bud, I haue had whole trees shald ...
— A New Orchard And Garden • William Lawson

... bright panoply was not meant for mere idle show, but had been worn by the Governor on many a solemn muster and training field, and had glittered, moreover, at the head of a regiment in the Pequod war. For, though bred a lawyer, and accustomed to speak of Bacon, Coke, Noye, and Finch, as his professional associates, the exigencies of this new country had transformed Governor Bellingham into a soldier, as well ...
— The Scarlet Letter • Nathaniel Hawthorne

... near a house like it—always cheerful, always singing; and with all that, good and kind beyond belief! What was theirs, was for others also. Mamma Cretu was a plump body of thirty, clean as a new penny, lively as an eel, merry as a finch. Her husband was a regular jolly old King Cole; he had a large nose, a large mouth, always a paper cap on his head, and a face so droll—oh, so droll, that you could not look at him without laughing! When he returned home ...
— The Mysteries of Paris V2 • Eugene Sue

... "Margaret Aird and Thomas Finch will act as captains." At once there was a gleeful hubbub. Slates and books were slung ...
— Glengarry Schooldays • Ralph Connor

... been a suitor for her hand, and was desirous of another chance. After his death, the young widow, who was surrounded by a host of admirers, married the Duke of Somerset, and she seems to have made him a fitting mate, for when his second wife, a Finch, tapped him familiarly on the shoulder, or, according to another version, seated herself on his knee, ...
— Strange Pages from Family Papers • T. F. Thiselton Dyer

... all parts of the Park, and at Norris's there was an unusual number of them. How blue they were,—breast and all. In voice and manner they were almost identical with our bluebird. The Western purple finch was abundant here also, and juncos, and several kinds of sparrows, with an occasional Western robin. A pair of wild geese were feeding in the low, marshy ground not over one hundred yards from us, but when we tried to approach nearer ...
— Camping with President Roosevelt • John Burroughs

... a nest which is almost invisible; once you have mastered the trick, no gold-crest is safe. I am sorry, now, for all those plundered gold-crests' eggs. And the rarer ones—the grey shrike, that buzzard of the cliff (the most perilous scramble of all my life), the crested titmouse, the serin finch on the apple tree, that first icterine warbler whose five eggs, blotched with purple and quite unfamiliar at the time, gave me such a thrill of joy that I nearly lost my foothold on the swerving ...
— Alone • Norman Douglas

... who lived in a little hut, and in the hut there was nothing but a little bed and a looking-glass; but as soon as the first sunbeam glided softly through the casement and kissed his sweet eyelids, and the finch and the linnet waked him merrily with their morning songs, he arose and went out into the ...
— Good Stories For Great Holidays - Arranged for Story-Telling and Reading Aloud and for the - Children's Own Reading • Frances Jenkins Olcott

... that point. Just as I ran down the little incline into the open, a bird flew past me across the water, and alighted in a dead spruce (it might have been the very tree of nine days before), where it sat in full sight, and at once broke into song,—"like the purple finch's," says my notebook; "less fluent, but, as it seemed to me, sweeter and more expressive. I think it was not louder." Before many minutes, my comrade came running down the path in high glee, calling, "Pine grosbeaks!" He had got directly under ...
— The Foot-path Way • Bradford Torrey

... Driver Finch: "I am in the best of health, with the feeding and the open-air life. The stars have been our covering ...
— Tommy Atkins at War - As Told in His Own Letters • James Alexander Kilpatrick

... as long And as sweet as a prosperous Cock could crow; But his note was small and the gold-finch's song Was a pitch too high for Robin to go. ...
— The Complete Poems of Sir Thomas Moore • Thomas Moore et al

... at this place my friend, Lady Frederick Bentinck, through whom I intended to renew my request for materials, if any exist, among the Finch family, whether manuscript poems, or anything else that would be interesting; but Lady F., unluckily, is not likely to be in Westmoreland. I shall, however, write to her. Without some additional materials, I think I should scarcely feel strong enough to venture ...
— The Prose Works of William Wordsworth • William Wordsworth

... Theodora now! There are two sisters always going about staying at places, the only girls Theodora ever cared for; and just now, Georgina, the youngest, who used to be a wild fly-away girl, just such as Theodora herself, has gone and married one Finch, a miserly old rogue, that scraped up a huge fortune in South America, and is come home old enough for her grandfather. What should possess Theodora to bring Jane here now? I thought she would never have forgiven them. But we may as well come down. Here's ...
— Heartsease - or Brother's Wife • Charlotte M. Yonge

... first shock of the storm was over, and before I could see breaking sky, the birds tuned up with new ardor,—the robin, the indigo-bird, the purple finch, the song sparrow, and in the meadow below the bobolink. The cockerel near me followed suit, and repeated his refrain till my meditations were so disturbed that I was compelled to eject him from the cover, albeit ...
— The Writings of John Burroughs • John Burroughs

... said another most emphatically, taking a pinch of snuff, and offering it to the shoemaker; "for you know Jemmy may come to the finch before John." ...
— Real Life In London, Volumes I. and II. • Pierce Egan

... he. "Sparrows—finches the snatchers and the snatched-from. Everything that breathes is either a sparrow or a finch. 'T is the universal war—the struggle for existence—the survival of the most unscrupulous. 'T is a miniature presentment of what's going on everywhere in ...
— The Cardinal's Snuff-Box • Henry Harland

... forests, which are several leagues off, abound with birds, beasts, insects and serpents. Besides a brilliant plumage, many of the birds have a very fine song. The troupiale, noted for its rich colours, sings delightfully in the environs of Pernambuco. The red-headed finch, larger than the European sparrow, pours forth a sweet and varied strain, in company with two species of wrens, a little before daylight. There are also several species of the thrush, which have a song ...
— Wanderings In South America • Charles Waterton

... Justice Fleming in sustaining impositions, and Chancellor Ellesmere in supporting benevolences for King James; as ready to do it as Hyde and Heath were to legalize "general warrants" "by expositions of the law"; as Finch and Jones, Brampton and Coventry, were to legalize "ship-money" for King Charles; as swift as Dudley was under Andros; as Bernard and Hutchinson and Oliver were in Colonial times to serve King George III.; as judges have been in later times ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 88, February, 1865 • Various

... gets into the bush," she said, as the tears fell upon her cheeks, "sometimes forgets to come back to the cage again. I would rather hae the lean lintie in the hand, than the fat finch ...
— Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Vol. XXIII. • Various

... quarrels between birds are about the best way of building nests. Other birds, said Solomon, omitted to line their nests with mud, and as a result they did not hold water. Here he cocked his head as if he had used an unanswerable argument; but, unfortunately, a Mrs. Finch had come to the meeting uninvited, and she squeaked out, 'We don't build nests to hold water, but to hold eggs,' and then the thrushes stopped cheering, and Solomon was so perplexed that he took ...
— Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens • J. M. Barrie

... Dr. Leslie remembered an old patient whom he liked to go to see now and then, perhaps more from the courtesy and friendliness of the thing than from any hope of giving professional assistance. The old sailor, Captain Finch, had long before been condemned as unseaworthy, having suffered for many years from the effects of a bad fall on shipboard. He was a cheerful and wise person, and the doctor was much attached to him, besides knowing that he had borne his imprisonment ...
— A Country Doctor and Selected Stories and Sketches • Sarah Orne Jewett

... English sparrow's cousins in this finch group confine themselves rather rigidly to this diet. Here the variability of the sparrow again gives him the advantage. He may have the family fondness for seeds, but in their absence he can be content with almost anything edible. In the early springtime, ...
— The Meaning of Evolution • Samuel Christian Schmucker

... sparrows lovable we are not so fond of the English sparrows, which have become more numerous than the native birds. The English sparrow, or finch, as he is more properly called, may be a troublesome visitor, but we invited him to come, and he is not to blame for some of his disagreeable ways. He is by no means useless, for he clears the gutters of quantities ...
— Friends and Helpers • Sarah J. Eddy

... than five letters were received by Miss Edgeworth at different times, from different young people, asking for a description of the dresses in the "Contrast."] odd letter signed by three young ladies—Clarissa Craven, Rachel Biddle, and Eliza Finch, who, after sundry compliments in very pretty language, and with all the appearance of seriousness, beg that I will do them the favour to satisfy the curiosity they feel about the wedding dresses of the Frankland family in the "Contrast." I have answered in a way ...
— The Life And Letters Of Maria Edgeworth, Vol. 1 • Maria Edgeworth

... Mr. Finch shrugged. "We don't see how it could be otherwise, sir," he replied with quiet conviction. "Clearly the deceased gentleman must have been alone in the room ...
— The Hunt Ball Mystery • Magnay, William

... am willowy boughs For coolness; I am gold-finch wings For darkness; I am a little grape Thinking of September, I am a very ...
— Poems By a Little Girl • Hilda Conkling

... too; he was with his mother, of whom he had no fear; he had been fed as the birds are fed; he had no anxious thoughts of the future, and as he went, he crooned to himself a soft song, like the piping of a finch in a wayside thicket. What was in his tiny mind and heart? I do not know; but perhaps a little touch of the peace ...
— The Altar Fire • Arthur Christopher Benson

... sometimes crossed the border-line, the case they presented was not calculated to conciliate sovereign princes. We have a curious instance of this in the first Zionist book published in London, "The World's Great Restoration, or Calling of the Jewes"—(London, 1621)—which was written by Sir Henry Finch, the eminent serjeant-at-law, although his name does not appear on the title page.[110] Among other items in Finch's programme was one to the effect that all Christian princes should surrender their ...
— Notes on the Diplomatic History of the Jewish Question • Lucien Wolf

... botanists landed on Groote Eylandt, and I went to Finch's Island with the second lieutenant, to take bearings and astronomical observations. From the western head, I saw that the bay extended six or eight miles above the ship, to the southward, and that the southern outlet, beyond Winchilsea Island, was about one mile wide; ...
— A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 2 • Matthew Flinders

... opened February 23, 1858, and was called for a decade or more the Sturtevant House, when it resumed its former name of Maverick House. In its rear, on the 25th of September, 1819, a duel was fought by Lieutenants Finch and White between two elm-trees standing between Meridian and Border streets, nearly opposite the Church of the Holy Redeemer. White fell and died ...
— The Bay State Monthly, Volume II. No. 2, November, 1884 • Various

... you think him. A heart which has been domesticated by matrimony and maternity is as tranquil as a tame bulfinch; but a wild heart which has never been fairly broken in flutters fiercely long after you think time has tamed it down,—like that purple finch I had the other day, which could not be approached without such palpitations and frantic flings against the bars of his cage, that I had to send him back and get a little orthodox canary which had learned to be quiet and never mind the wires or his keeper's ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 3, No. 18, April, 1859 - [Date last updated: August 7, 2005] • Various

... carved beak unceremoniously in your face. His card of address was Phoenicopterus antiquorum. The ancients ate him, and he looked as if he would break your nose if you disputed with him. A very large finch, which we have seen for sale about the streets here and elsewhere in Sicily, rejoices in the imposing name of Fringilla cocco thraustis. He wears his black cravat like a bird of pretension, as he evidently is. The puffin (Puffinus Anglorum) also frequents these rocks, though a very long way from ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXLV. July, 1844. Vol. LVI. • Various

... dearest Jenny Wren, If you will but be mine, You shall dine on cherry pie, And drink nice currant wine; I'll dress you like a gold-finch, Or like a peacock gay, So if you'll have me, Jenny, dear, Let us ...
— The Baby's Opera • Walter Crane

... professionals there; a nominal fee of sixpence being the charge per game, and Staunton, the champion had played many games at that rate. It was some weeks before I mustered resolution to visit Simpson's spacious and handsome hall, but, once arrived there, I made myself at home. Lowe, Williams and Finch were the attendant players there, and extensively they were supported. From each received the Queen soon improving to the odds of the Knight, and then playing even with them. Buckle alone, who did not mind hard work, essayed to give me Pawn and move, but ...
— Chess History and Reminiscences • H. E. Bird

... BOTTOM [Sings.] The finch, the sparrow, and the lark, The plain-song cuckoo gray, Whose note full many a man doth mark, And dares not answer nay;— for, indeed, who would set his wit to so foolish a bird? Who would give a bird the lie, though he cry 'cuckoo' ...
— A Midsummer Night's Dream • William Shakespeare [Collins edition]

... throughout the summer. For some purposes Leadville may be an exceedingly desirable city, but it has few attractions for the ornithologist. I took a long walk through a part of the city, and, whether you will believe it or not, I did not see a single bird outside of a cage, not even a house-finch or an English sparrow, nor did I see one tree in my entire stroll along the busy streets. The caged birds seen were a canary and a cardinal, and, oddly enough, both of them were singing, mayhap ...
— Birds of the Rockies • Leander Sylvester Keyser

... Majesty's navy. Compliments flowed in upon the orator from all directions. Sir William Coventry pledged his judgment that the fame of the oration would last for ever in the Commons; silver-tongued Sir Heneage Finch, in the blandest tones, averred that no other living man could have made so excellent a speech; the placemen of the Admiralty vied with each other in expressions of delight and admiration; and one flatterer, whose name is not recorded, caused ...
— A Book About Lawyers • John Cordy Jeaffreson

... cheeky that a bird so little should presume to rebuke a great big Bull. He did not remember, you see, that big bodies are often big fools, and precious goods are done up in small parcels. The warning of the little Finch was as the blowing of the wind; at least, so it seemed at the time, though afterwards (as you shall hear) the Bull ...
— The Talking Thrush - and Other Tales from India • William Crooke

... she found a nest, with nine finches in it. And so many children she had by the Earl of Winchelsea, whose name is Finch. ...
— Miscellanies upon Various Subjects • John Aubrey

... Finch down de country somewhar', and dey called him 'William' at de big house. He wuz de tailor, and he made clo'es for de young marsters. William wuz right smart, and one of his jobs wuz to lock up all de vittals atter us done et much as us wanted. ...
— Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves - Georgia Narratives, Part 3 • Works Projects Administration

... of, and though that didn't make any difference, George assured himself, they knew nothing about art, music, poetry, or anything really worth while. And, too, while George's father had said, "Now, George, we're all one here. Each of us is as good as another. Joe Finch, who cares for the flowers outside, is every bit as good a man as I am"—still George knew, if he told his parents he was going to marry Joe Finch's daughter someday, there ...
— George Loves Gistla • James McKimmey

... the finch, Sami," she replied. "See, he wants to impress it upon you, so that you will think about what will always keep you safe and happy. Just listen, now, he is calling again: Trust! trust! trust! trust! trust! Only ...
— What Sami Sings with the Birds • Johanna Spyri

... on the 9th instant, at Calais, between Lieut. Finch, 20th regiment of Dragoons, and Lieut. Boileau, on half-pay of the 41st regiment. Lieut. Finch was bound over, some days back, to keep the peace in England; in consequence of which he proceeded to Calais, accompanied by his friend, Captain Butler, where they were followed by Lieut. Boileau ...
— The Gaming Table: Its Votaries and Victims - Volume II (of II) • Andrew Steinmetz

... well, and soon he was at the end of Finch Street which in those days opened straight into fields ...
— Jeremy • Hugh Walpole

... afterwards raised. The two prizes were taken into the British service; and as this occurrence followed immediately after the capture of the "Chesapeake" by the "Shannon," they were called "Broke" and "Shannon." These names afterwards were changed, apparently by Admiralty order, to "Chub" and "Finch," under which they took part in the battle of Lake ...
— Sea Power in its Relations to the War of 1812 - Volume 2 • Alfred Thayer Mahan

... occasion to Carlton house. What was the fame acquired by his cockleshell curricle, (by the way, the very neatest thing seen in London before or since;) his scenic reputation; all the applause attending the perfection of histrionic art; the flatteries of Billy Finch, (a sort of kidnapper of juvenile actors and actresses, of the O. P. and P. S. in Russell-court;) the sanction of a Petersham; the intimacy of a Barrymore; even the polite endurance of a Skeffington to this! To be classed with the proud, the noble, and the great. It seemed ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, - Vol. 10, No. 283, 17 Nov 1827 • Various

... remains none the less mysterious how the animal can know what it is that will agree with it. Thus the kid which Galen took prematurely from its mother smelt at all the different kinds of food that were set before it, but drank only the milk without touching anything else. The cherry-finch opens a cherry-stone by turning it so that her beak can hit the part where the two sides join, and does this as much with the first stone she cracks as with the last. Fitchets, martens, and weasels make small ...
— Unconscious Memory • Samuel Butler

... by the royal authority for the support of an army, it was probable that there would be an immediate and irresistible explosion. This was the difficulty which more than any other perplexed Wentworth. The Lord Keeper Finch, in concert with other lawyers who were employed by the government, recommended an expedient which was eagerly adopted. The ancient princes of England, as they called on the inhabitants of the counties near Scotland to arm and array themselves for the defence of the border, had sometimes called ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 11 • Various

... They banish our anger forever, When they laurel the graves of our dead. Under the sod and the dew, Waiting the judgment day; Love and tears for the blue, Tears and love for the gray."—F. M. Finch. ...
— Buchanan's Journal of Man, August 1887 - Volume 1, Number 7 • Various

... 'imself all over with a clothesbrush. Nice-looking little man 'e was, with blue eyes, and a little white beard, cut to a point, and dressed up in a serge suit with brass buttons, and a white yachting cap. His real name was Mr. Finch, but the skipper called 'im Uncle Dick, and he took such a fancy to me that in five minutes I was calling ...
— Ship's Company, The Entire Collection • W.W. Jacobs

... of our robins have speckled breasts, betraying their thrush kinship. And the young junco shows, in its striped appearance of breast and back, and the lateral white quills in the tail, its kinship to the grass finch or vesper sparrow. The slate-color soon obliterates most of these signs, but the white quills remain. It has departed from the nesting-habits of its forbears. The vesper sparrow nests upon the ground in the open fields, but the junco chooses a mossy bank or tussock by the roadside, or in the ...
— Under the Maples • John Burroughs

... through a day, and a second day—talked of nothing else in the intervals. Explanatory answers were vouchsafed to Aminta's modest inquiries at Finch, as she pictured scenes of smoke, dust and blood from the overpowering plain masculine lines they drew, terrible in bluntness. The third morning Lord Ormont had map and book to verify distances and attempt ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... on Lord Russell's trial—Finch summed up the evidence against him. But ... shewed more of a vicious eloquence, in turning matters with some subtlety against the prisoners, than of solid or sincere reasoning.—Swift. Afterwards Earl of Aylesford, an ...
— The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, Vol. X. • Jonathan Swift

... knighted by Elizabeth, and afterwards raised to the peerage as Baron Wotton by James I.; and James and John, who were also made knights by Elizabeth. His second wife was Eleanora, daughter of Sir William Finch of Eastwell in Kent, and widow of Robert Morton, Esq., of the same county, by whom he had a son, Henry, the poet and statesman, who was knighted by James I. He died in London on the 11th of January 1587, and was buried in the parish church of Boughton Malherbe, where a monument was erected ...
— English Book Collectors • William Younger Fletcher

... of dry goods and tobaccos? Who makes the quartern loaf and Luddites rise? Who fills the butchers' shops with large blue flies? Who thought in flames St. James's court to pinch? {11} Who burnt the wardrobe of poor Lady Finch? - Why he, who, forging for this isle a yoke, Reminds me of a line I lately spoke, "The tree of freedom is the British oak." Bless every man possess'd of aught to give; Long may Long Tylney Wellesley ...
— Rejected Addresses: or, The New Theatrum Poetarum • James and Horace Smith

... heath eats up green grass and delicate flowers, The pine eats up the heath, the grub the pine, The finch the grub, the hawk the silly finch; And man, the mightiest of all beasts of prey, Eats what he lists;—the strong eat up the weak; The many eat the few; great nations, small; And he who cometh in the name of all Shall, greediest, triumph by the greed of all; And armed by his own victims, ...
— In The Yule-Log Glow, Vol. IV (of IV) • Harrison S. Morris

... "Elsie Morton and Jennie Finch. I mean, those are their married names. I use a different alias every time I get married, you see. Course, my first wife,—the one you met,—her name is Smilk. I married her when I was young and not very smart. Elsie ...
— Yollop • George Barr McCutcheon

... up green grass and delicate herbs; The pines eat up the heath; the grub the pine; The finch the grub; the hawk the silly finch; And man, the mightiest of all beasts of prey, Eats what he lists. The strong eat up the weak; The many eat the few; great nations, small; And he who cometh in the name of all Shall, greediest, triumph by the ...
— Lectures Delivered in America in 1874 • Charles Kingsley

... too—the greatest bird multitude there is, perhaps, after the house-sparrows—are free enough to sing. They have been, during the past week, sailing out on short voyages from the tops of trees, like flycatchers, dancing in the air after their victims and then returning to the spray. The green-finch—that beautiful-winged Mrs Gummidge among birds—is also abundant, and slips down nervously every now and then among the groundsel in the unweeded garden. I confess the greenfinch has all my sympathy, but it rather bores me. What the deuce is it worrying about? There is ...
— The Pleasures of Ignorance • Robert Lynd

... black of hue, With orange tawny bill; The throstle with his note so true, The wren with little quill; The finch, the sparrow, and the lark, The plain song cuckoo gray, Whose note full many a man doth mark, And ...
— Birds and Poets • John Burroughs

... subject. These are not the only good drawings, but there is in them a simplicity and singleness of purpose, a total subordination of all minor matters to the great impression, which makes them points of poetic value in the collection. There are some drawings by Finch, scarcely less noticeable for their rendering of solemn twilight, tender and touching as the memory of a loved one long dead. The water-color representation is, indeed, complete and interesting; but we have only present ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 4, February, 1858 • Various

... days in a harbor on the Albanian coast, spending the time pleasantly enough in swimming and sailing, while we waited for a new escort. Another night's run put us in Navarino Bay. The grandfather of Lieutenant Finch Hatton, one of the officers on board, commanded the Allied forces in the famous battle fought here in 1827, when the Turkish fleet was vanquished and ...
— War in the Garden of Eden • Kermit Roosevelt

... to come but long to sing, My little finch of deep-dyed wing, I welcome thee this day! Thou comest with the orchard bloom, The azure days, the sweet perfume That fills the breath ...
— Standard Selections • Various

... The Bull-Finch. Being a choice Collection of the newest English Songs, most of which have been set to Music, and sung at the public Theatres ...
— The True Life of Betty Ireland • Anonymous

... blossoms, which give profitable returns on a variety of soils, and which may be considered safe to plant. These are Charles Downing, Miner, Bidwell (kept in single rows or single plants), Piper, Cumberland Triumph, Phelps ("Old Iron Clad"), Sucker State, Finch, Capt. Jack (acid), Longfellow (with good, rich culture), Mt. Vernon (late), and for sandy soil, Kentucky (late). This list may be said to constitute the cream of the thousand and one varieties offered which have been ...
— Prairie Farmer, Vol. 56: No. 4, January 26, 1884 - A Weekly Journal for the Farm, Orchard and Fireside • Various

... will you do: and it may be, When, weary of the world's deceit, Some summer-day we yet may see Your coming in our meadows sweet; Where, midst the flowers, the finch's lay Shall welcome you with music gay. While you shall bid our antique tongue Some word devise, or air supply, Like those that charm'd your youth so long And ...
— Barn and the Pyrenees - A Legendary Tour to the Country of Henri Quatre • Louisa Stuart Costello

... for many a day to come, and which would leave scars visible till the day of their burning. Each stem was wrenched at the root, where it moved like a bone in its socket, and at every onset of the gale convulsive sounds came from the branches, as if pain were felt. In a neighbouring brake a finch was trying to sing; but the wind blew under his feathers till they stood on end, twisted round his little tail, and made him give ...
— The Return of the Native • Thomas Hardy



Words linked to "Finch" :   Carpodacus purpureus, house finch, honeycreeper, snowbird, yellowbird, redbird, Carpodacus mexicanus, junco, cardinal grosbeak, Richmondena Cardinalis, Spinus pinus, Carduelis hornemanni, Carduelis spinus, Carduelis cucullata, grass finch, lintwhite, canary, crossbill, Cardinalis cardinalis, Fringillidae, purple finch, serin, linnet, towhee, pyrrhuloxia, Fringilla montifringilla, Pyrrhuloxia sinuata, goldfinch, siskin, grosbeak, New World goldfinch, Carduelis flammea, zebra finch, family Fringillidae, pine finch, indigo finch, canary bird, chaffinch, bullfinch, Hawaiian honeycreeper, Fringilla coelebs, brambling, Carduelis carduelis, Spinus tristis, oscine, bunting, grossbeak, Carduelis cannabina, pine siskin, cardinal, Java finch, oscine bird, New World sparrow, weaver finch, redpoll



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